Magdalena Carrasco to Run Again Against Xavier Campos for Council Seat

Former political foes Xavier Campos and Magdalena Carrasco will once again face off for San Jose’s District 5 City Council seat.

San Jose Councilman Xavier Campos will face a familiar opponent when he runs for re-election in the June primary. Magdalena Carrasco, who lost the 2010 race for the East Side council seat by a slim margin—and some might argue the election was stolen, quietly filed papers this week to give it another shot. The decision was first reported by the Mercury News.

In an October grand jury proceeding, prosecutors allege that Campos’ sister, Assemblywoman Nora Campos, may have used money from her own campaign that year to pay for those illegal mailers to give her little brother an edge in the race. The Campos siblings were both called to testify at that hearing. Xavier Campos refused to testify, invoking the Fifth Amendment to even routine questions, like whether Nora is his sister.

Ex-Santa Clara County Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr., who’s spending a year in jail for pilfering public money to feed his gambling problem, was indicted by that same grand jury after analysts found his DNA on the stamp of one of those brochures. The mail fraud case will be back in court Wednesday.

Five City Council seats are up for election on the June 3 ballot, in addition to the mayor’s race.